Investment is a risky business. It’s important to consider spreading your money between the four main asset classes – cash and deposits, stocks and shares, bonds and property. Cash and deposits You will often hear the saying “cash is king.” That’s because it’s true. Everybody enjoys t

Irish pension funds gave back some of the gains made over the past three months with negative performances over the month of May, according to the latest analysis from Rubicon Investment Consulting. The average managed fund returned -2.8 per cent for the month. Standard Life Investmen

Irish investors are significantly less bullish about the global economy, according to results of RaboDirect’s Investor Barometer. The survey has uncovered a significant deterioration in confidence in the global economy, with 44 per cent of respondents saying they are optimistic about

Warren Buffet is one of the world’s most successful investors. It is hard to ignore such a man having lived through some of the markets biggest peaks and troughs over the past half century and still coming out on top time and time again. He is consistently battling for the top spot as

August and the summer is now over and investors and savers are now focusing on the Autumnal months ahead. Stocks internationally had their worst August performance since 2001 and the ISEQ fell 7.2 per cent in the month. Mounting concerns about the health of the economic recovery in Ir

Despite stricter rules being proposed for the financial sector by the Central Bank, banks will still be allowed to take money from a customer’s savings account if they fail to make their credit card or hire purchase payments on another account held with the same lender. The Financial

Shares or equities, as they are commonly referred to, have posted good returns in 2010. Although the outlook is still tentative, the FTSE World (which is a measure of global equities) has returned 13.6 per cent in the year to date in Euro terms. So, what are shares? Quite simply, they

Irish bond yields rose to over nine per cent at one stage in the past week. But what does this mean? Basically, when the Irish Government need money, they issue what is called a bond. This is an IOU. They will issue it at a cost of Eur1 per unit and they will guarantee to repay that E

In a statement released yesterday Mr O’Brien made clear he will not be making any moves to take over the company and will make no further comment on the matter. The reasoning for Mr O’Brien’s decision is unclear. According to The Irish Times concerns had been raised about the rate of